20 of the best books by the most influential thinkers in business

Seth Godin speaks at the Wired Business Conference 2015 in New York City.
Brad Barket/Getty

Since 2001, the Thinkers50 organization has hosted what the Financial Times has dubbed the "Oscars of management thinking," an award ceremony for the top 50 management thought leaders whose work has most affected the business world.

From elite business-school professors to insightful career coaches, these thinkers have affected millions of professionals from around the world, from upstart entrepreneurs to Fortune 100 CEOs.

One of the primary ways they spread their ideas is through their writings, so we gathered some of the best books from this year's winners.

See below for some of the best business books on leadership and career success in recent history.

'Linchpin' by Seth Godin

Amazon

Godin is a serial entrepreneur, marketing expert, and the successful author of 22 books.

His 2010 book "Linchpin" was his fastest-selling book yet. It's a guide on how to become a linchpin at your company — that is, how to differentiate yourself from other "cogs in the machine" to become truly indispensable.

'Presence' by Amy Cuddy

Amazon

Cuddy is a social psychologist at Harvard Business School who got mainstream attention from her 2012 TED Talk "Your body language shapes who you are," which has been viewed online about 40 million times.

Her upcoming book "Presence" explains the ways that our brain's self-perception can be manipulated to overcome insecurity to allow us to be more confident and assertive.

'Blue Ocean Strategy' by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne

Amazon

Kim and Mauborgne are INSEAD professors who first published "Blue Ocean Strategy" in 2005. It proposed a system that would allow businesses to "create uncontested market space and make the competition irrelevant."

In the past decade, they have worked with INSEAD to develop a robust Blue Ocean Strategy network that has inspired leaders across industries and sectors, from Box CEO Aaron Levie to the mayor of Orlando, Florida.

'Give and Take' by Adam Grant

Grant is an organizational psychologist at Wharton whose research has shown that it's not selfish, Machiavellian types who are at the tops of their industries. Rather it's those who are "givers."

In his 2013 book, he explains that givers are those who create value for others without expecting anything in return, and it's an approach that, when done properly, results in valuable professional networks.

'The Lean Startup' by Eric Ries

Amazon

Ries is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who shook up the Valley with his 2011 book "The Lean Startup." It advocates for an approach to business where founders or managers experiment before finding something that sticks and pursuing it aggressively as a way to maximize the potential of scarce resources.

'Playing to Win' by Roger Martin

Amazon

Martin is the former dean of the University of Toronto Rotman School of Management and current chair of Productivity and Competitiveness Research.

His 2013 book "Playing to Win" is cowritten with former Procter and Gamble CEO A.G. Lafley and tells the story of how together they "doubled P&G's sales, quadrupled its profits, and increased its market value by more than $100 billion in just 10 years."

'Competitive Strategy' by Michael Porter

Simon and Schuster

Porter is a Harvard Business School professor and sought-after management consultant who Think50 considers "the father of modern business strategy," which is part of the reason they gave him this year's No. 1 spot.

Since the first edition of "Competitive Strategy" was published in 1980, it has become the foundational text on strategy taught in business schools around the world.

'Multipliers' by Liz Wiseman

Amazon

Wiseman is a former Oracle executive who is now a leadership consultant in Silicon Valley.

Her 2010 book, cowritten with Greg McKeown, uses insight from her career along with profiles of leaders, like Mitt Romney and Steven Spielberg, to illustrate that those who selflessly promote their subordinates end up more successful than those who place prime importance on advancing their own careers.

'The Rise of the Creative Class' by Richard Florida

Amazon

Florida serves as the director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the Rotman School of Business and is best known for his work on the creative class and its relationship to cities.

In his 2002 book "Rise of the Creative Class," updated last year, Florida argues that the most successful cities will evolve to attract young talent, foster the technology sector, and pass liberal social policies.

'Collective Genius' by Linda Hill

Amazon

Hill is a professor at Harvard Business School, where she chairs the school's Leadership Initiative.

Her 2014 book "Collective Genius" — cowritten with Greg Brandeau, Emily Truelove, and Kent Lineback — explores case studies on how large organizations can use their size as an advantage to compete with highly innovative startups.

'The End of Competitive Advantage' by Rita McGrath

Amazon

McGrath, a Columbia Business School professor, has served as a leadership consultant to companies like Coca-Cola, GE, and Pearson.

Her latest book, 2013's "The End of Competitive Advantage," argues that the most successful companies need to aggressively take opportunities and move on from them before they're exhausted, in order to keep the competition constantly playing catch-up.